A Seussical Birthday Celebration

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” – Dr. Seuss, Happy Birthday to You!

Last March 2 was Dr. Seuss (Theodore Seuss Geisel’s) birthday so I’m taking this opportunity to divert from travel and share another how-to-party guide from my nephew’s 2nd birthday party, which was Seuss-themed. My sister Lorie and I love themed parties and we always try to find an occasion to hold one. Since Seuss party merchandise is not available here in the Philippines, we had to make do with a lot of DIY stuff and a few lucky finds.

Since I was pretty busy moving around greeting guests, trying to set up the defective music player, and searching for extra spoons and forks when the caterer ran out, I didn’t get to take a lot of photos. Thankfully, my cousin Ida took lots of great photos of the party details. Most of the photos I used here were taken by her. (Thanks Ida!)

FOOD

You can’t have a Dr. Seuss party without Green Eggs and Ham. This one’s pretty simple to make. It’s just hard-boiled egg with green food coloring mixed into the mayonnaise.

I found photos online on how to make the Cat in the Hat’s Hat out of marshmallows and red food coloring. My cousin Ida also baked delicious Thing 1 and Thing 2 Cupcakes. The recipe is red velvet cupcake with bright blue frosting, which everyone loved.

The rest of the food was just ordinary catered fare, but we played around with the labels using food in Dr. Seuss books:

• Who Roast Beast = Pork Pot Roast
• Poodles with Noodles = Baked Macaroni
• McFuzz Cutlets = Chicken Cordon Bleu
• Schlopp = Mango puree with with tapioca
• Pink Yink Drink = Juice

DECORATIONS

I downloaded different covers of Dr. Seuss books and Photoshopped them together to make a tarp to serve as a backdrop for photos. Eli’s books were scattered around the different tables for guests to read. We also made our own customized streamers from wrapping paper that seemed Seussish (stripes and polka dots mostly). Red, white, and blue balloons completed the decor.

CANDY BUFFET

For about 3 months before the party, Lorie and I collected any red, white and teal colored candy we would come across. We supplemented this with colorful lollipops, popcorn and other toys.

Everything looked really nice arranged in assorted jars and containers we decorated with ribbons. The kids loved it.

GAMES

We prepared a few outdoor games in the roofdeck (Scrambled Egg Super treasure hunt) but unfortunately it rained, so we had to switch plans and do some simple games indoors instead. My cousin Rica gamely hosted the the games like Bring Me, Seussical Chairs and a few others.

CAKE

We got the cake from The Regali Kitchen. The cake was designed after the Cat in the Hat’s Hat, which looked exactly like the hat Lorie made out of felt paper and cardboard for Eli. It was almost a pity to slice into it since it looked so perfect. The filling was a rich chocolate flavor and was extremely delicious. Other lucky finds decorating the cake table include a Cat in the Hat toy (found by my grandmother at a bazaar in Alabang) and wind-up Seuss toys from Burger King that must have been promotional items from the Cat in the Hat movie (found in a vintage toy stall in Metrowalk).

COSTUMES

We asked guests to come in red, white and teal to match the color scheme or wear crazy hats. Some of the kids went all out in full costume!

The birthday boy (who refused to wear his costume) was pretty clueless about the whole thing. I think he enjoyed the  opening of gifts the most.

UPDATE [08/27/12]: This party was featured in Smart Parenting Magazine’s August 2012 issue.